Revving up for the new year
Frustratingly unable to get back to my regular routine of cycling Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, as DH was ill yesterday and today it's raining. Hopefully I can start again tomorrow. It does make me feel better as well as keeping my knees in working order.
Made my first combination of signwriting and Roses & Castles decoration to go in my Etsy shop:

I find it very hard to do something just for the sake of it. I only manage to cycle three times a week because I linked it with the task of getting groceries, so I know I need to cycle into town or we won't have bread. So I'm hoping that as far as signwriting goes, I'll get some commissions of the Rose & Castles stuff and that will also force/help me to practice signwriting from the drawing out stage to the painting stage.
I'm going to make a few ready made things too that can go in the shop, and that too will force/help me to keep up my practice and continue to improve. People have bought the plain Roses & Castles stuff, so it seems to me that having the option to have words on it as well can only be a bonus :)
Waiting for Snowflake Challenge #2 to come up...
Made my first combination of signwriting and Roses & Castles decoration to go in my Etsy shop:

I find it very hard to do something just for the sake of it. I only manage to cycle three times a week because I linked it with the task of getting groceries, so I know I need to cycle into town or we won't have bread. So I'm hoping that as far as signwriting goes, I'll get some commissions of the Rose & Castles stuff and that will also force/help me to practice signwriting from the drawing out stage to the painting stage.
I'm going to make a few ready made things too that can go in the shop, and that too will force/help me to keep up my practice and continue to improve. People have bought the plain Roses & Castles stuff, so it seems to me that having the option to have words on it as well can only be a bonus :)
Waiting for Snowflake Challenge #2 to come up...
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Well ...
Remember that thought if someone asks you to make 500 of the things for wedding favors. Because that's what it looks like to me, pretty roses and all. Well, maybe with a white background, but still, it looks like the things people hand out at weddings.
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If you're sure, really sure, that you're up to doing such things by the hundreds, now is the perfect time to start. Make a ton of romantic things, post pictures, give them out as gifts. We're coming up on Valentines Day, people love that stuff -- and then spring is peak time for weddings. Find ways to get your stuff out there so people will see it and want it.
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Oh, and if you haven't discovered this bit yet: mass production of small craft painting projects works really well with an assembly-line approach. Paint all your backgrounds first. By the time you get to the end of the line, the front ones are probably dry. Add the next element, and so on. I've seen some good examples in terrain-painting tutorials for roleplaying terrain. So far I've only seen you post individual projects so I don't know if your teacher covered this or if you'd found it on your own. I've done it with Christmas cards where I was drawing holly bunches: signature, holly leaves, holly berries.
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I have discovered the mass production thing! That's also partially why I've gone for the three roses all being the same colour. In traditional Rose & Castles style, you would have one red, one yellow and one white, but doing that more than triples the time you have to spend. (Because of all the brush washing and stuff.)
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Yay!
>>I don't honestly envisage there being a rush on them, as the Rose & Castles style is not very popular off the canal, but if I am inundated, I'll be surprised and gratified, and will happily switch to doing them mass production style.<<
You can always play around with different styles to see what proves popular. Start with Rose & Castles, then switch to a new one. I think this one is cute, and people love roses.
>>I have discovered the mass production thing!<<
That's good.
>> That's also partially why I've gone for the three roses all being the same colour. <<
Logical.
>> In traditional Rose & Castles style, you would have one red, one yellow and one white, but doing that more than triples the time you have to spend. (Because of all the brush washing and stuff.) <<
If people want the full traditional style, then they can pay 3-4 times the price for it. Maybe do one to illustrate the difference, if you feel like exploring that. Some people love a bargain, and others want something extra-special.
*ponder* In fact, some people are crazy about roses, if they grow them. They might like a garden sign with the name of their roserai and pictures of a few different roses they grow. Signs are more stylized than nature paintings, but a tea rose and a floribunda look pretty different.
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I love the tips
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